Thursday, August 11, 2016

These screenshots were taken on July 15, 2016, and show that Baidu was restricting search results for “炎黄春秋” (Yanhuang Chunqiu, lit. (“The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Emperors Yan and Huang”)) to websites operated by the central government and Communist Party (and Baidu's own Wikipedia clone).

This screenshot was also taken on July 15, 2016, and shows that when a user searches for "Yanhuang Chunqiu" on Sina Weibo they are told that "In accordance with relevant laws, regulations, and policies, search results for ''Yanhuang Chunqiu' have not been displayed."

The editorial board of Yanhuang Chunqiu, a liberal monthly journal known for bold discussions on politics and history, was recently reshuffled by The Chinese National Academy of Arts.

The academy, with which the journal is affiliated, published a notice on July 12 and declared that the academy’s leadership decided to replace or demote the editorial leadership, including its president, editor-in-chief, vice-presidents and deputy editors. According to the notice, the academy appointed a new management team for the journal led by Jia Leilei, the academy’s vice-president, who replaced Du Daozheng as the president of Yanhuang Chunqiu.

The journal said its editorial board has enlisted the services of a lawyer and intends to sue the academy, RTHK reported.

The magazine was founded in 1991 and has been known for publishing outspoken articles, often involving topics such as constitutionalism and the Cultural Revolution. It has received the backing of many retired senior officials.
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An unconfirmed statement allegedly issued by Du is spreading online has voiced strong opposition to the decision from the Chinese National Academy of Arts. The statement claims that Du and his colleagues are trying to defend their magazine and their “outspoken” style from the shake-up. It also said they are preparing for the closure of Yanhuang Chunqiu, Taipei-based Central News Agency (CAN) reported.

This screenshot was taken on July 18, 2016, and shows that Baidu had banned users from establishing a PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forum on the subject of the “Yanhuang Chunqiu.”

This screenshot was taken on July 20, 2016, and shows that the top search results on Sina Weibo for “Du Daozheng” (杜导正) were posts including images of the “statement allegedly issued by Du.”

The statement read:

On July 12, the Chinese National Academy of Arts illegally and unilaterally ripped to shreds the "Written Agreement Between the Chinese National Academy of Arts and Yanhuang Chunqiu Magazine Publishing" it had signed with "Yanhuang Chunqiu," announced a reshuffle of our publisher's leadership structure, severely infringed upon the freedom of the press granted to citizens by Article 35 of the Constitution, and violated the right of our publisher to hiring, editorial, financial independence that was clearly agreed upon in Written Agreement.

On July 15, the Chinese National Academy of Arts dispatched officials to the publisher and stole and altered the passwords of the official website of "Yanhuang Chunqiu," leading to our magazine losing the basic conditions necessary for editing and publishing.

In light of this, and following discussion among, and a unanimous decision by, the publishing committee of Yanghuang Chunqiu Magazine Publishing, publishing shall cease as of today. Henceforth anyone distributing a publication under the title "Yanhuang Chunqiu" shall not bear any relationship with this publisher.

This screenshot was taken on July 21, 2016, and shows that the posts including Du Daozheng’s statement have been deleted, and Sina informed users:

Because many people have filed complaints about this Weibo, in accordance with relevant state laws and regulations, it has already been deleted. (该微博因被多人举报，根据国家相关法律法规，已被删除。)

On August 2, 2016, the website of Yanghuang Chunqiu posted a notice stating:

The legal representative of Yanghuang Chunqiu Magazine Publishing has been changed
from Du Daozheng to Hao Qingjun in accordance with the law. The new corporate stamps of Yanghuang Chunqiu Magazine Publishing have already been in use since July 30, 2016. No person may conduct social activies, engage in business operations, or publish any articles in the name of Yanghuang Chunqiu Magazine Publishing without the permission of Yanghuang Chunqiu Magazine Publishing's legal representative Hao Qingjun. If any of the foregoing are discovered Yanghuang Chunqiu Magazine Publishing reserves the right to pursue legal recourse against the such persons.

Over the weekend there has been much hype among Western public opinion over the anniversary of the so-called "709 mass detentions of rights layers" in China. The US, Germany and Britain on July 9 issued their statement either through foreign affairs authorities or embassies in China, demanding the release of the involved lawyers. Some Western lawyer organizations published an open letter to pressure the Chinese government. The American Bar Association granted Chinese lawyer Wang Yu, who was detained on July 9 last year, its first International Human Rights Award.

According to the West, "23 lawyers and activists" held on July 9, 2015 and in subsequent detentions remain unreleased.
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The West has not been bothered by other arrests by China's public security organs in the past year. Why have they made an issue of the detentions of some lawyers? Is that because the arrests of lawyers could better prove the absence of the rule of law in China? Their concentration on human rights lawyers is abnormal.

On August 4, 2016, the Global Times published an article entitled “Transparent Trial.” Some excerpts:

As Hu Shigen, the leader of an underground church, was convicted of subverting State power on Wednesday by a Tianjin court, details of the trial were freely reported by the foreign media.
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The details of the trial were released in real time through text and photos on a screen set up in a special media room at a nearby hotel. Journalists who did not manage to get a seat in the public gallery were invited to the center to report, the Tianjin Daily reported Thursday.

Major media outlets from the US, the UK, Spain, Japan and Qatar arrived in Tianjin to report on the trial, while five media organizations won the chance to sit in the public gallery.

These screenshots show that on August 1, 2016, Sina Weibo was censoring search results for “709 Case” (709案). That morning the top search result read:

709 Case, according to information from friends on the scene in Tianjin: Shijing State Security officers have attempted to forcibly remove Li Wenzu several times, only allowing him to remain at the scene because the were being observed by foreign human rights officials. Fan Lili was knocked down by plain clothes officers who are also on the scene.

709案，据天津现场朋友消息：石景山国保多次要把李文足強行帶走，被外國人權官員圍住才得以繼續在現場。樊丽丽被蓝衣服人推倒也在地。

By the afternoon Sina was telling users it could not find any relevant search results.

This screenshot was taken on August 7, and shows that Baidu had banned users from establishing a PostBar (Tieba 贴吧) forum on the subject of "Hu Shigen" (胡石根).